“We decide many things intuitively”

Business is booming. When the ball starts rolling at events like the FIFA World Cup, things have been especially lively at Karlsruhe’s “Vogelbräu” for more than 40 years, and the locations in Durlach and Ettlingen benefit as well. In these weeks too, quite a few fans are once again coming to owner Rudi Vogel to watch the matches together. However, the restaurateur never knows exactly in advance how big the rush will be. “We decide many things depending on the situation,” he explains.

Rudi Vogel and his team are not alone in this. The 2026 World Cup brings some uncertainties to planning due to special framework conditions. For gastronomy and event catering, this means: Not every event that would in principle be possible can also be calculated reliably.

Many uncertainty factors did not arise only with the World Cup, including rising costs, fluctuating guest numbers and, not least, the weather. Good planning remains the foundation. But increasingly, the crucial factor is the flexibility of those responsible. It begins with adaptable concepts and extends all the way to catering equipment.

For the 2026 World Cup, additional challenging conditions come into play: A particularly high proportion of matches, compared with earlier tournaments, will take place during the German night. “The crucial point is the kick-off times,” confirms Sebastian Holy, operations manager and culinary director of “WildparkTaste – Made by Traube Tonbach”, the caterer of Karlsruher SC at BBBank Wildpark. The FIFA World Cup, actually a perfect setup for the hospitality industry, hardly plays any role in his business. “What would work well in mild summer weather during the day or early evening sometimes does not take place until late in the evening or in the middle of the night. That changes the calculation considerably.”

For many of his colleagues in the hospitality industry, aspects such as the weather would also have a negative impact, as it can spoil any match shown outdoors. Costs for weatherproof setups as well as for technology, additional staff or licenses would be added. “That is why,” says Sebastian Holy, “many ask themselves very soberly: Why should I still set up televisions at 10 p.m. if I may only be allowed to serve drinks until 11 p.m.?”

Martin Vonhof, head of retail sales and authorized signatory at Lacher Großküchen GmbH, confirms this. Up to shortly before the start of the World Cup, he had still not noticed any unusually high demand for hospitality supplies, furniture, catering equipment & co. “Instead, our customers tend to rely on existing concepts and respond depending on the situation,” he notes. “Short-term decisions generally increase at events like these. Especially under uncertain conditions, many things are only finalized or adjusted very late.”

This is also the strategy Rudi Vogel follows. His Vogelbräu in Karlsruhe has around 150 seats inside and about 200 in the beer garden when fully occupied. He never calculates up to the theoretical maximum quantity. “You shouldn’t be more Catholic than the Pope,” he says. If something runs out for once, “then that is just how it is. Drinks are not a major issue, because as a brewery we are stocked accordingly.” More discretion is needed when it comes to food, especially with regard to how the tournament unfolds. “If Germany reaches the semifinals, for example, we stock up correspondingly more.”

What matters, then, is less the one perfect plan than the ability to make quick adjustments when needed – including on the perennial issue of weather, which so strongly affects the revenues of outdoor hospitality during the warm season. Rudi Vogel now benefits from decisions that originally date back to the coronavirus period. Large parts of his beer garden are equipped with awnings, and the televisions are also protected. “This allows us to respond much more flexibly in changeable weather and means we do not have to move every match indoors immediately.”

Jens Block, director at Ibis Styles Tübingen, however, does not see this as a major problem. His hotel has a sports bar with around 50 outdoor seats and 120 indoor seats. If it rains, the matches continue to be watched indoors – with pulled beef burgers, spare ribs or loaded nachos. He is convinced there will always be enough of that available for the World Cup. “We generally have enough goods in-house.” So here too, additional goods are not tied up for every conceivable scenario – even though the bar welcomes 80 percent external guests. The format is also deliberately manageable: The sports bar opens at 3 p.m., matches at 10 p.m. are still shown, but matches at three or four in the morning are not.

Sebastian Holy sees it similarly in practice. For him, the B.PRO COOK cooking stations are particularly important because they make it possible to “finish and serve dishes within just a few minutes.” At the same time, this creates a front-cooking experience for guests. Interchangeable cooking attachments also help offer different dishes in a short amount of time.

Another point is transport. Food should not only get from A to B warm or chilled, but should also arrive in the desired quality. Here, Holy points to the B.PROTHERM E: The desired degree of doneness, especially for meat, remains stable for two to three hours. Afterwards, the dishes can be briefly finished on the mobile griddle.

At “WildparkTaste,” the banquet food transport trolleys are also used extensively. Holy recalls a football event last summer at which the German Football Association was also present. Afterwards, the trolleys were explicitly praised because they enabled the food to be transported hygienically and at the same time attractively through the hospitality areas. “It was even documented with mobile phone photos,” says Holy.